Monday, February 11, 2013

Be your own best advocate

Perhaps this is most true when it comes
to looking after your health.

I gave birth on the 15th
November 2012, I was 42 weeks and 3 days pregnant and under
severe pressure from the hospital to be induced. I didn't want to be
induced, I had researched it and spoken to many women who had been
induced, and knew it usually ended up in a cascade of interventions
with a cesarean section being the end result far too often. The drugs
they use for induction are off label and have numerous side effects,
or direct effects as I like to call them.

I had been transferred from midwifery
to obstetric care on October 5th because of three high
blood pressure readings and +1 protein in my urine. When I met with
the obstetrician he immediately diagnosed me with pre-eclampsia, or
toxemia as he called it, and then proceeded to tell me that
“pregnancy is an illness” and “women who want home births
usually end up with every intervention in the book”. He then
informed me he wanted me in hospital until the birth, which was
October 29th, over three weeks away. My husband and I left
his consulting room shell shocked. I had just secured a home birth
the week before so this news was devastating.

The next six weeks were very traumatic
as we advocated for our voices to be heard. They weren't. I didn't go
into hospital (apart from a two day stay to check the protein levels
in my urine, which were fine), but I did go for almost daily check
ups for the baby. Most of the time, all I heard was I could convulse,
seize and die at any moment or the baby could be still born and so
on. I had to sign a release form on more than one occasion. Trying to
explain that I understood the risk factors and didn't need them
explained to me every day for six weeks fell on deaf ears. I wasn't
the 'expert'. I felt harassed and traumatised by this form of
'health care' and tried to explain how I felt on numerous occasions,
some lovely people did listen but in general I was ignored and even
sneered at for informing myself.

I did not go into labour, our baby's
heartbeat fell and I had an emergency cesarean which was the last
thing I wanted, but it was a true medical emergency so that consoles
me somewhat. Do I wonder could I have done things differently? Of
course I do, I should have gone for chiropractic adjustments, I
should have worked more on my psychological state which was full of
fear, thinking of going into hospital to give birth. At the end of
the day we have a beautiful healthy son but that still doesn't negate traumatic feelings around his birth and the last month of my pregnancy which
needed to be worked through.

Too many women have traumatic
experiences during pregnancy and birth and it really is time to take
back our own power and be our own best advocates.

For every effect there is a root cause.
Find and address the root cause rather than try to fix the effect, as
there is no end to the latter ~ Unknown

2 comments:

You have to be your own best advocate and hope that someone trustworthy has your best interests at heart if you should be unable to voice your own opinions. I commend you for standing your ground...too bad you had to go through all that though. First of all, congratulations on having a baby, Noreen. Don't know if girl or boy but hope you both are doing well. I just had a short stay in the hospital this past week...a colitis attack. Never had one before...never want another one! Found that the doctors weren't really interested in my questions or concerns...the nurses were very kind and helpful though. I guess doctors are the same everywhere...many are arrogant fear mongers. My best and happiest wishes for you Noreen. Gayle xoxo

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